Chinese Airline Accuses CNN Journalist Of False Report About A 'Man Smoking In First Class'

CNN reporter Steven Jiang, one of the most well-respected Western
journalists in China, has unexpectedly found himself at the
center of the story after a post on his
Weibo account about a man smoking on a plane went viral.

"Would China Eastern Airlines tell me, who was the man allowed to
break airline safety laws so blatantly? On the evening of
December 2, after the MU5127 flight took off, the male passenger
at 1A/B of the first class section was smoking at his seat. The
crew did nothing."

"After a passenger from the first class section took a photo of
the smoker, an air marshal tried unsuccessfully to grab his/her
phone and delete the photo. After the plane landed, several big
guys boarded the plane. They surrounded and threatened the
photographer, and forced him/her to delete the photo. The
passenger was allowed to leave the plane only after the photo was
deleted."

Jiang's post soon went viral, with over 36,000 reposts in just a
couple of days, and soon major Chinese newspapers like the Southern Metropolis Daily picking up the
story. After a year full of Chinese corruption scandals, any hint
of rule-breaking by the Chinese elite carries a lot of interest
online. On Weibo, many speculated that the alleged smoker was a
high-ranking official.

There is a fair amount of skepticism over Jiang's account,
however. Some observers have said that there is no first class in
China Eastern Airlines, and the airline itself issued a statement
on Weibo saying that there was no one in that seat on the flight:

“After we checked with December 2 MU5127 ‘s certain first class
passengers and the airport’s concerned parties, we’ve confirmed
that nobody sat at 6A/B (described as 1A/B in the original Weibo
post) on that flight. The incident described didn’t happen. After
the flight arrived in Beijing on 00:32, one airport ground staff
followed normal handover protocols and boarded the plane. No
other person boarded the plane.”

Jiang's statement first says that he had posted the message as an
individual, and it should not be taken to be from CNN. He then
admitted he should have been more precise, and said that he was
not on the plane and the person who took the photo was hesitant
to give more information after the scandal grew so big. Finally
he said that the flight number he gave was wrong, and he had
emailed new information to China Eastern Airlines.

Comments on the post are largely negative so far, and Bill Bishop
of the Sinocism blog has
wondered if Jiang had faced pressure from CNN to give the
statement.